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Last opportunity to enter 4 categories in the 2015/16 Afrisam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture + Innovation.

Published at: 23 February 2016

Implications of sustainability in the built environment and on the industries that support it combine with call for entry in the 2015/16 Afrisam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture + Innovation

The transition toward a truly sustainable built environment for those industries that support it will require a redesign of current business models and value propositions. New ways of thinking about this is something that we are trying to do within our own practice, and we are hoping to see more of in the entries for the bi-annual award. The Award recognises contributions that bring sustainable innovation to human living environments through an integrated approach to communities, planning, design, architecture, building practice, natural systems and technology.

"To create sustainable built environments, we need to radically change the processes through which buildings and infrastructure are designed and re-designed. Sustainability is not achievable if design and operation are disconnected" says Dr Jennifer Whyte, head of Innovation and Design in the School of Construction Management and Engineering at the University of Reading. It's a sentiment that underpins the thinking behind adding Sustainable Products and Technology and Sustainable Social Programmes to the two mainstay categories of Sustainable Architecture and Research in Sustainability for the 2015/ 2016 Award.

“The inclusion of the two new award categories is a recognition of the way that individuals and communities experience sustainable innovation - and that is through the broad built environments in which they live, work, play, commute and learn,” comments AfriSam’s CEO Stephan Olivier. “It is also a recognition of the fact that we are now fully in a new era that recognises that sustainable design has to be a non-negotiable, integral part of the building industry from the very start of a project.”

“The emphasis is no longer on just the architecture and building practice,” adds Kevin Bingham, Vice President of SAIA. “It is now on the sustained collaboration and ongoing innovation of these two key stakeholders working with communities, natural systems, technology and planning across all levels. This is the only way to bring sustainable innovation to the inhabitable environments that all our communities find themselves in on a daily basis.”

The AfriSam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture + Innovation commits itself to recognising projects that add value to our built environment through sustainable practice and innovation. The additional categories support the guiding vision for the 2015/2016 Award – which is to recognise contributions that bring sustainable innovation to human living environments through an integrated approach to communities, planning, design, architecture, building practice, natural systems and technology.

Go to our webpage to find more detailed information on each of the categories, as well as the judging panel and closing dates, and to view submissions and awarded projects from previous years. We have also created a seamless and accessible online entry platform should you have your own project, or be involved in one, that you believe qualifies for entry.

Feel free to contact us if you have any queries about the 2015/2016 AfriSam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture + Innovation. We would love to hear from you: Email: briefing@sustainabledesign.co.za